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10
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2011
SFF.ORG.AU
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
11
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2011
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
SFF.ORG.AU
The key deciding factors are subject matter, formal approach, use of
new technology or unexpected choices in performance, screenwriting,
visual style, editing or design. Did the filmmakers work outside the
square? Did they take risks and pull them off? Is the film remarkable
because of this? The resulting film should inspire debate, capture the
imagination and challenge preconceived ideas.These are the responses
that risk-taking can provoke, and this is the way in which ‘new
directions’ are forged, whether in film, politics, art, sport or life. This is
what our Official Competition honours.
Clare Stewart | Festival Director
OFFICIAL
COMPETITION
Chen Kaige was born in Beijing in 1952. His father was a filmmaker.
He enrolled at the newly reopened Beijing Film Academy in 1978. His
feature debut was Yellow Earth (1984), signalling him as a prominent
member of the Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers. Farewell My
Concubine (1993) became the first Chinese film to win the Palme d’Or at
the Cannes Film Festival. He has won many other awards and accolades
during his career. His other films include The Emperor and the Assassin
(1998), Together (2002) and Sacrifice (2011) (see p 26).
The award criteria is very enticing to work
with from a curatorial perspective: it’s about
recognising bold ideas and decisions on
the part of the creative team behind the film,
and celebrating films that make us think and
feel differently about cinema and the world.
SPONSORED BY:
OFFICIAL
COMPETITION
JURY PRESIDENT
CHEN KAIGE
AMADOR
MON 13 JUN 2.25PM STATE
TUE 14 JUN 1.00PM EV4
Spain | 112 mins | In Spanish with English subtitles
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director, Screenwriter: Fernando León De Aranoa |
Producer: Fernando León De Aranoa, Jaume Roures
Cast: Magaly Solier, Celso Bugallo, Pietro Sibille |
Sales Agent: Imagina International Sales
Laced through with twisted black comedy and subtle social critique, Fernando León de
Aranoa’s (Mondays in the Sun, Princesas) film about the plight of an immigrant worker
living in Spain wickedly subverts the slice-of-life drama and ultimately packs a punch that
is as scathingly funny as it is devastating. Marcela (Peruvian actress Magaly Solier, who also
starred in Altiplano, SFF Official Competition 2009) is an immigrant living on the outskirts
of Madrid with her boyfriend Nelson who scrapes together their meagre living by selling
flowers. Frustrated with Nelson’s limited ambitions, she is on the brink of leaving him when
she discovers that she is pregnant. Forced to take another job, Marcela keeps her pregnancy
hidden and starts caring for a bedridden old man, Amador, while his daughter and her family
are on summer holidays. Initially they are reserved and somewhat brusque with each other
but an unlikely conspiracy is formed when they discover each other’s best-kept secret. Aranoa
slyly infuses this barbed morality tale with the golden hues of the Spanish summer, giving the
film a lyrical feel that is counter to its sharp, calculated observations about class order and the
tenacity and resourcefulness of the dispossessed. CS•
FERNANDO LEÓN DE ARANOA was born in Madrid. He holds a Bachelor's
degree in Image Sciences from the Universidad de Complutense de Madrid.
He has won Goya Awards for his films Invisibles, Princesas, Mondays in the Sun
(SFF 2003), Barrio and Familia.
SFF 2010 Official Competition Jury President Jan Chapman, Sir Ian McKellen, SFF Festival Director Clare Stewart,
SFF 2010 jurors Shirley Barrett and John Cooper
ATTENBERG
THU 9 JUN 6.30PM STATE
FRI 10 JUN 2.30PM EV4
Greece | 95 mins | In Greek with English subtitles
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Director, Screenwriter: Athina Rachel Tsangari |
Producers: Maria Hatzakou, Yorgos Lanthimos,
Athina Rachel Tsangari, Iraklis Mavroidis, Angelos
Venetis | Cast: Ariane Labed, Vangelis Mourikis,
Yorgos Lanthimos | Sales Agent: The Match Factory
Athina Rachel Tsangari’s striking drama, set in a Greek factory town by the sea, follows
23-year-old Marina, an unpredictable creature whose isolated habitat and limited human
interaction have led her to mimic the repetitive behaviour of animals featured in the David
Attenborough documentaries she so hungrily devours. Her world is shaped by her father, a
modernist architect whose health is decaying as if in empathy with the concrete buildings he
designed; and by her promiscuous friend Bella, who provides her with kissing lessons and
tantalising accounts of her own sexual adventures. Tsangari (who produced cast member
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar® nominated Dogtooth, 2009) applies the camera like a magnifying
glass, approaching her small sample of human characters with the intense analytical gaze of
the film’s scientific hero. (The title is a deliberate mispronunciation of Attenborough’s name.)
Stylistically bold and featuring a finely choreographed performance by Ariane Labed, the
film’s emotional trajectory intensifies when Marina begins to experiment with desire and is
forced to confront her father’s mortality. CS•
WINNER: BEST ACTRESS (ARIANE LABED), VENICE FILM FESTIVAL
FILMMAKER GUEST: ATHINA RACHEL TSANGARI
ATHINA RACHEL TSANGARI is a producer and director who also appeared
in a minor role in Richard Linklater’s film Slacker. Born in Greece, she is a
graduate of New York University, and lives and works between the two
countries. She worked as a producer on Yorgos Lanthimos’ films Kinetta,
Dogtooth, and the forthcoming Alps.